- Using these deals staff are on call but only paid for the hours they work
- McDonald's employs the majority of its workers on this basis so they can bring in more people at peak times
- Contracts were for low-skilled NHS jobs but now include cardiology and physiotherapy staff
- The Department of Health deny the claims are true
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Increasing numbers of highly skilled clinical staff are being employed on McDonalds-style 'zero-hours' contracts, risking the health and safety of NHS patients, it was revealed today.
The controversial deals bind staff to being on call, despite having no guarantees on hours, pay or some employment rights.
McDonald's, the world's biggest fast-food chain, employs the majority of its 87,500 UK staff on this basis, allowing them to call in workers at short notice at busy periods or not at all if it is quiet.
Anger: Increasing numbers of clinical staff are being employed on zero hours contracts
They only get paid for the hours they are there, meaning they are 'in work, but not always at work,' experts say.
The NHS has used this kind of contract to cover low-skilled jobs like cleaning, but now it is claimed the Government's controversial reforms are allowing more trusts to use them to cover frontline staff treating the public in hospitals and clinics.
These include cardiac services, physiotherapy, psychiatric therapy, and hearing services.
Labour shadow health secretary Andy Burnham told The Independent: 'I'm calling on the Government to halt the spread of zero-hours contracts in the NHS pending an urgent review into the potential risks to continuity of care and patient safety.
'What is going on here is the unpicking of the fabric of the employment system of the NHS in England. Zero-hours contracts have previously operated safely within the NHS. They suited some staff willing to trade a bit of uncertainty for extra pay. But it's very different to extend these contracts into core delivery services.
'It is the casualisation of our health service, turning parts of the NHS into a temping workforce.'
The growing use of the contracts was a 'depressing symptom of the Government's drive to turn England's health service into a full-blown market,' he added.
Big employer: The controversial contracts are used by McDonald's, allowing them to manage staffing levels
Critics fear that trusts could be left in a 'G4S situation', where they are unable to muster enough staff when some of these 'zero-hours' staff fail to turn up for shifts because they are working elsewhere or put off the job because of their contract.
G4S suffered humiliation this summer when on the eve of London 2012 it revealed it could not bring in enough staff, meaning thousands of soldiers were brought in to guard the Games.
Ban: Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham says he wants the contracts stopped
Union Unison, who have highlighted the situation, say they are getting 'worrying feedback' from their members working in the NHS about the issue.
They say the situation will be made worse because Government reforms will allow patients more choice about where they want to be treated.
Hospital trusts and private firms are turning to the contracts because they are competing for work, they say.
A Unison spokesman says the situation means providers 'do not know how much work will be given, because it is supposed to be up to patients to decide which provider they choose.
'Yet in order to be approved as a provider, they must demonstrate they can operate with spare capacity so they can meet increasing patient demand should that happen. But rather than simply hire staff that might be needed, which is expensive, many providers are turning to zero-hours contracts. The whole thing is an unnecessary, untested experiment – a nightmare.'
Trusts using these contracts include Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals, South Gloucester and University Hospitals Bristol.
Trusts like Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals told the Independent that it allows them to have a 'pool of experienced staff that are able to help out at times of increased demand', while the Bristol trust said it saved public money by reducing the need to use more expensive agency staff.
A Department of Health spokesman told MailOnline: 'The use of bank staff in the NHS is nothing new and has nothing to do with the health reforms. NHS Trusts have always had the flexibility to employ staff on such contracts.
'However, because the cost of employing these staff tends to be higher than the cost of permanent staff, the NHS should only use such contracts when it is the most appropriate use of its resources.'
Just seems to me anougher way of doing it on the cheap.Ok this way well suit a number of these people, but lets be clear it really is not the way we should be treating people. I wonder if this idea was tried on our managers and the like any chance of that?
- cgray, yeovilsom, 03/9/2012 18:13
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